Sandburg Eagles Fly To Portland!
Having wrapped up a very magical 2014 Cross Country season at the Nike NXN national meet in Portland, I asked the seven Sandburg runners to answer a few questions regarding their experience.
Chris Torpy really came into his own during this cross country season. As a junior, he finished 38th at the State Meet in 15:00. At the Nike Regionals he placed 37th in 15:47 in Terre Haute, IN. At Nike Nationals, Chris finished in 16:38 which put him in 115th place.
Here's what Chris had to say about the trip to Portland:
My favorite memory at NXN was definitely when we went out on the stage at the Nike headquarters to get our team gear. All seven of us who were fortunate enough to represent the team in Oregon were looking forward to that moment going in. We had no idea what the gear was going to look like, so there was a lot of excitement, and it’s pretty awesome to be surprised with all that cool stuff.
Obviously it wasn’t my best race of the year and I wish I could have performed better, but I know there are a lot of people who never get an opportunity to race NXN, so I shouldn’t complain. The race was so much different than any Illinois race I’ve been in. The pace felt so much faster, which is expected, but the points at which people normally push or coast were totally different than points that I was used to.
It was a fantastic experience, and it was exciting to get out of Illinois to race. They were all very talented teams and put together a great field to race against. We were able to get a good look at the nation’s best, and hopefully we can qualify for nationals next year to race them again, and get another shot at winning.
The course was tough for sure, but mostly because of the conditions it was in due to the rain and girl’s race beforehand. Even though it was pretty sloppy, I enjoyed the setup. The hills didn’t make things easy, although it was a nice challenge. I’m never opposed to making things difficult because it only makes us better.
I enjoyed when Ryan Hill had dinner with our team the night before the race. He shared a ton of information regarding his training, his PR’s, favorite races, and tips on how to take on a cross country race. He gave us his experiences during high school and college, and how he ended up running with the Nike team.